IISc Science and Technology Run (SNT run) -- Race Report

Today I ran the 2nd edition of the IISc Science and Technology run or the SNT run, as it's being called. The event had a 10K, 5K, a corporate relay and bunch of other events which I didn't pay attention to. This report is for the 10K.


1. Course Profile

Figure 1: SNT Run 10K Map

The 10K run was a single loop within the IISc campus. The loop was mostly road, with a little bit of trail in the 1st half. It was not a flat course and had enough ups and downs. If you look at the map, you will see that the route crisscrosses itself at multiple places. In spite of that, I don't know of anyone who got lost.

2. Race Report

I decided to run this race on Friday (9/4/2010). It was a last minute thing. My goal for the race was to maintain a sub 5:00/KM pace and get a personal best (my 10K personal best is 50:36). Given that I have been running at paces faster than that, though for shorter distances, I thought the goal to be achievable. 

The 10K was supposed to start at 7:30 AM, but then it was announced that it will start at 8 AM. Given the recent increase in heat and humidity in Bangalore, that was not good news. The runners started assembling near the start line at around about 7:40 AM. The race got flagged off 10 minutes from then, at 7:50 AM -- 10 minutes before the announced start time. 

Given that I was at the head of the pack, I didn't have to jostle through the crowd too much. I consistently kept a pace between 4:30-5:00/KM. At the 3 KM, the heat started coming down and I had to utilize the water stops.

When my Garmin showed 8.4 KM, I saw a huge crowd under a banner cheering the runners on. My first instinct was, "Ah! Crowd support. Nice!" But then a couple of people, whom I had passed a few minutes back, were sprinting by me. And I wondered "Could the banner possibly be the finish line?" So, I asked the next runner, a woman, who was sprinting past me, "Is that the finish line?" She didn't seem to be in a mood to answer and by that time I was already under the banner. Yes, it was the finish line!

The 10K was only 8.7KM (42:19). Disappointing! I was on track for a personal best -- my average pace was 4:51 -- but it wasn't to be for no fault of my own. 

3. Pros and Cons

Pros

1. The registration process was pretty straightforward and they had the registrations open till the start of the race. 
2. There was no registration fee.
3. Even though there was no registration fee, all the runners got a t-shirt and a cap.
4. Adequate water stops.

Cons

1. This is a major one: the 10K run was 1.3 KM short! 
2. The race didn't start on time. Yes, it was only a 20 minute delay. But as runners we demand punctuality from ourselves and others. 
3. There were no distance markers anywhere in the course.

4. Conclusion

The race course was nice and challenging and if it weren't for the course being short, it would have been a really nice run.

Routine Post

Because the last time when I tried to switch on my computer, there was something burning ... and I don't know what.

• First things first. After getting rejected left, right and center last year, I finally managed to secure an admit for my MS in Computer Science. That too in UCLA. People tell me that it's a good school, but I'm more like "Hey it's in LA, so GREAT!" (Note: I am still awaiting more results).

• On to running. My sub-20-minute-5KM goal still exists and I'm training as much as I can (maybe I can do more, but then I won't be able to do all the other things which I do). I may not be able to make it in a 6 month time-frame, but it still seems possible within the end of the year. 

• For people who didn't know, I had joined Latin Dance Classes couple of months back and I'm still continuing. It's good fun and would to recommend to everyone.

• I have registered for the Sunfeast 10k which is slated to happen on May 23rd. I don't have any solid goals. I hope to do a sub-50 minute, but then that goal kind of sucks because that's the same which I had last year (I failed last year).

• I'm back to playing basketball. In fact I had been practicing all of last week for a corporate tournament which happened last weekend. We faced 3 teams (Bosch, Wipro and Repucom) and lost to each one of them, but I had a great time playing. It was almost 4 years since I had played a match. 

• Cooking has taken a back seat. I don't find it too interesting to just cook for myself. Although, if there are other people, I like to cook. 

• I'm currently reading greatbong's "May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss." I also bought "Getting Things Done." I hope I get time to read everything.

Auroville Marathon: Post Race

The Auroville Half-Marathon would be my 2nd half-marathon which was executed flawlessly -- the first one being the Bangalore Midnight Marathon. I finished the race in 1:51:23. Which translates to an average pace of 5:20/KM. What more I even did a decent sprint in the last 400m. Everything went according to plan. My goals were as follows:

1. Get a personal best (beat 1:55:02) -- Pass (shaved off approximately 4 minutes)
2. Run a sub-2 hour race-- Pass
3. Finish -- Pass

I ran the race with quite a lot of focus (I believe that running without music has helped me in this). So much so that at the end, it didn't feel like I had been running for almost 2 hours. I stuck to my target-pace from the very start. Having the experience of many races, I managed to contain the feelings of going fast in the beginning. Many people who overtook me in the first half, were returned the favour by yours truly in the second half.

The conditions were hot and humid. The humidity was there from the beginning and I had a wet shirt within the 2 KM mark. Because of this, I made it a point to have electrolytes and water at each and every aid station. The heat didn't come into picture till around 7:30 AM (the race started at 6 AM), which was around the 17 KM mark. Wearing a cap helped.

As promised, in the last 400m, I sprinted. I had another runner in front of me, who, realizing that I was about to cross him, shifted into another gear. We were having a really competitive last minute sprint, when he managed to lose way in the last corner -- the finish line was after a left turn; the poor chappy ran straight -- and was left behind. I felt sorry for him, but I continued my dash and finished really strong.

And when I say strong, I mean I had enough energy left after the run to play a game of basketball with few kids.

 Figure 1: The author playing basketball with few kids. Notice the dangling finisher's medal. Sports is about participation.

Note 1: Well the kids beat my team in basketball, but let's not concentrate on who won and lost ... It's all about participation. Right?
Note 2: I have been advised, by my PR consultant (who was also my basketball team-mate, and because of whom we lost), to show-off in a more subtle and agreeable manner. This is so that people appreciate my achievements rather than label me as a braggart. I find that boring.

A good run!

Auroville Marathon: Race Preview, Controversy and Race Plan

The Auroville marathon is upon us. This time again it's on Sunday, Valentine's Day. Being a single-lonely-heart, I will be running the half-marathon there rather than visit expensive restaurants with bouquets.

On to the race related details, controversies and my race-plan (I always have one, even if I don't).

1. Race Preview

 The Auroville Marathon has 4 events: the full marathon, the half marathon, the quarter marathon and a 5K. I'm only going to talk about the full and the half marathons -- not because I don't respect the quarter marathon distance (10.5 KM) or the 5K, but because I don't know much about those events.

Figure 1: Auroville Map for Full and Half Marathons

Most of the Auroville marathon (approximately 83% of it) is a nice and easy flat trail. The full marathon is two loops of the trail and the half is one loop. There are aid stations at 4 KM intervals -- which is correctly placed for distance runners who have trained properly. These stations, at least last time, had water, electrolytes and things to eat. The trail has enough shade and it's pretty even as compared to other trails which I have run on -- RFL's Bellandur track, Bangalore Ultra, etc. Some parts of the trail are pretty narrow which make them really enjoyable to run, but hard to overtake (and you know ... I'm always ... like overtaking people and shit). Parts of the trail have loose red dirt, so get ready to get dirty. Also it's very easy to get lost in the trail, so be careful and watch out for the markers.

The full marathon starts at 5 AM and the half marathon folks start at 6 AM. The full marathon participants are provided with torches, but from what I have heard is that the torches won't be of too much help and you will be forced to run carefully -- which might not be too bad during the start of a full-marathon, where flying away early could be detrimental to your goals.

2. Controversy

The Auroville Marathon was announced publicly some time in November or December (I forget), with the deadline for registrations being set as January 20th. As it would happen, a number of runners didn't register till the deadline was past. Also, there were a number of runners who were dropping out of the race. So two things happened:

1. The late-to-register runners approached the organizers, wondering if there was any chance of getting into the race.
2. The drop-outs started to put up their bib numbers on the RFL Google Group, so that people who wanted to run the race could run on their behalf. 

 In the 1st case, the late-to-register runners were told by the organizers that late registration was not possible. Unfortunately, the email exchanges between the organizers and the runners weren't too pleasant.

In the 2nd case, the organizers decided not to allow any other person to run with somebody else's bib. They have announced that, during bib collection, the runners need to bring a government issued identity proof. Only if the ID proof is provided, will the bibs be given. The bib controversy is not new and it happened last year as well.

3. Race Plan

This is going to be my first half marathon this year. The last race which I ran was the Mumbai Marathon. The last half-marathon which I ran was the Bangalore Midnight Marathon, where I got a PB.

Although I haven't trained specifically for a half marathon, I have done decent distances over the past 3 weeks. I might be a bit ambitious here, but here are my race goals:

1. Get a personal best (beat 1:55:02). 
2. Run a sub-2 hour race.
3. Finish. 

Unlike the midnight marathon, I'm planning to set a hard (hard for me), even pace of around 5:20/KM and retain it till the end (well, I will hopefully sprint the last 200 m). 

To more personal bests, we run.

Routine Post

• We rode to Nandi Hills and back on our cycles last Sunday. The whole journey of 130 KM was done in 9 hours, including breaks. It was a fun trip and I won't rate it as too tough. The climb up Nandi and the ride down was the highlight of the journey. The ride up took me around 45 minutes (covering a little over 7 KM), but downhill was lightning fast and was finished in 12 minutes. 

• I made Mysore Pak the other day. It's supposed to be hard to get right the first time, but I seem to have done a decent job -- at least I didn't have anybody say that they didn't like it. I followed this video to make the sweet-dish (the guy has a pronounced Indian American accent. Don't we all love those?).

• Lately the same old "Shoes are a waste of money and you should run bare-feet" debate has started again. Rather than believing what journalists write, I would like people to read what scientists and running-coaches believe. To summarize, the studies (which the journalists are using to say barefoot running is good) were done on professional athletes, not amateur runners. If you are already habituated to running with shoes, getting to run without them is going to take time and is prone to injury. Shoes protect your feet from the glass on the road -- and if you are in India, also excreta of various animals

Run To Work

Run to work: I had been planning to do this for months together, but never executing. My office is 10 KM from my home and I have cycled, motorbiked, taken the bus, but never run. And being a runner first and all those other things later, I had to ... well ... run to my office.

All my previous plans involved carrying fresh clothes the previous day to work, dumping them in my drawer, and then running the next day (carrying just my access card and keys in my pockets). For some reason, it never panned out.

Yesterday, for no particular reason it suddenly struck me that I could actually carry my change of clothes in the small Wildcraft bag, which I got as part of the Bangalore Cyclothon. I had run with it before and found it to be quite comfortable -- it doesn't bob up and down while running. Just that the choice of clothes had to be thin. So I packed a cotton pant, a dri-fit t-shirt, my wallet, towel, comb, cell-phone, and keys into the bag. Next morning (today), I took the bag and ran to work. Period. It's that simple.

I finished the 10K in 53:22. Now that I have done it and know how it's done, I'm sure I will be doing it again.

Going Forward

In which we look at what lies ahead.

• It's been 1 week since Mumbai marathon and I have recovered. It took 5 days for the pain in my legs to go and for me to walk without a limp. With the pain gone I did couple of runs over the weekend and they went pretty well. The next race which I'm running is going to be the half-marathon at Auroville. I'm going to be trying for another sub 2 hour timing.
• The 3 weeks of tapering and 1 week of recovery has left me with more poundage than what I would have liked (which though expected is not welcome). Hopefully I can lose all that before I run Auroville.
  
• One of my goals for 2010 is to do a sub-20 minute 5K. I plan to start training from next week. I don't have a concrete plan defined, but the goal is to systematically and progressively shave off 30 seconds (at least) from my best 5K time (23:52) every month.
• There is a plan in progress to cycle all the way till Nandi Hills on Sunday (31st Jan) and then back. The ride will be around 120 KM long (or more). Let's see how that goes.